And when you can find an IR camera or TV camera that can see through cloud and rain then this might be a useful step forward!
IR and Visible Light wont get through any Clouds and rain due to its wavelength. Eurocopter tried to solve this problem with a 33GHz radar ( named Heliradar ) around 1997, four rotating antennas were mounted on top of a BK117 Rotorhead, thus resulting in a kind of SAR-Radar even with zero groundspeed.
Dont know about the results of these tests, but havent heard anything about it for a long time.
skadi